Spontaneous get-togethers are now more possible than ever with Facebook's new Nearby Friends feature. You'd think parents could use it to see if their kids got where they said they were going, but Nearby Friends is only available to Facebook users aged 18+. And then it's "opt-in" – not on by default – so sharing location has to be a conscious for adults who use it, and they can only share with … [Read more...] about Facebook’s new friend-tracking tool
GPS
Yik Yak update: How the app came to geo-fence off US schools
After Yik Yak "fenced out" her daughter's entire high school in southern California, Diana Graber of CyberWise.org did some investigating to find out how the app was blocking use in schools. What she found out is an example of digital citizenship on the part of an app developer (see this for an example from the funding part of the mobile ecosystem). In "Yik Yak App Makers Do the Right Thing," … [Read more...] about Yik Yak update: How the app came to geo-fence off US schools
Social-media-powered neighbors in New York & Nairobi
As I watch the definition of "citizen" evolve during our planet's social media shift, I'm also noticing a social media-fueled expanding sense of what it is to be a neighbor, to identify with a place, and to belong. Here are two examples, one in Nairobi, the other in New York City: 1. MapKibera.org => community awareness, identity, voice Nairobi's Kibera, Africa's largest slum, has 1 … [Read more...] about Social-media-powered neighbors in New York & Nairobi
New phone app: Color me (& us) careful!
The new Color photo-sharing app for iPhone and Android smartphones, is free, potentially fun, and has no age restrictions. And it will probably have a lot of appeal for our highly social, digital photography-loving kids who love to share and tag. It also has staying power. Color "has all-star founders who have an impressive track record," reports ReadWriteWeb, and they raised $41 million to get … [Read more...] about New phone app: Color me (& us) careful!
4% of US online adults use location-sharing
Geolocation apps and services like Foursquare, loopt, Gowalla, and Facebook's Places are an online-safety frontier where consumer (much less kid) usage is the great unknown. Thankfully, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released some research on it – on adult usage, anyway (hopefully youth data coming soon). Pew found that 4% of adult US Internet users use geolocation services … [Read more...] about 4% of US online adults use location-sharing